The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-17
A Good Fellow.
Detroit Free Press.

AOfanam Rodgers, e g'l'' WHICH means
general good fellow? Well, did, and
helped bury him yesterday.
When first met Rodgers he was a
young man OF Is, and the title OF
good fellow had already settled upon
him. II they wanted the old church
swept for Sunday, or the bell rung for
prayer meeting some one asked Rodg-
ers to do it. If any old Hunker fell
sick and hankered for rabbit soup,
Rodgers was asked to go out and
hunt for the rabbit. II any old
woman wanted sassafras root or
herbs, Rodgers was the good fellow
who 90 to the fields and woods on
her errand. No one ever thought OF
Offering him money in payment for his
time, and it is only his due to say
that he wouldn't have accepted it II
they had. He was expected to pound
down the nail.hetds in the sidewalks,
replace broken planks, have an eye on
the bridge, paint the school house
steps, replace the broken glass in the
church, and be the guardian OF all bad
boys, and no one ever heard him kick.
Later on old man Jackson fell sick.
and when watchers were required he
expressed his desire to have Rodgers
come to the house and stay. Rodg-
ers went, put in sixteen days and
nights OF hard work, and when the
old man died the widow feelingly ex-
claimed:
A h.. u hat 30 n n
young mani can never, never repay
youl"
She never did-never even offered
him the value OF pair OF stockings, al
though she was left $50, 900.
Then Aunt Nancy Lee fell sick and
died and Rodgers had just begun his
days work as acarpenter when one OF
the Lee boysrode up with the news and
added:
"And the very last thing she said
was that you must be chief pall-bearer.
Aunt Nancy always loved you, and
you must come"
Rodgers went Aunt Nancy forgot to
say that he should be paid for his days
work, although she left $l2, 900 to the
heather, and so Rodgers was out again.
He had scarcely settled down to work
when some one discovered that the old
hand fire engine which had been stow,
ed away for six years ought to be put
in condition. A leading citizen sug.
gested to Rodgers to 90 ahead and fix
he o!a tub up, ana rs bill should be-
paid by a subscription. Rodgers tin
kered away for a week and leading
grocer gave him a bar OF soap and q
drygoods man came down with roll
OF tape. The effort to reward him died
out with that.
Rodgers lived just that sort OF life
until he was 40 years old. He even
put of getting married to sit up with
u sick horse and be rewarded with a
thank you. In one year he was pail
bearer at twenty-five funerals, and sat
up with fourteen different dead peo-
pie. When he worked for pay people
paid him when they got ready. When
there came a week in which somebody
did not want him TO compound %
salve, repair tub, sit up with u
corpse, subscribe for n mill-dam, rail-
road or public hall, or give n day 5
work to public Improvement or chari-
ty, Mrs Rodgers felt that the Judgment
day could not be far OIL. He had put
in three weeks looking up widow Da-
Wis lost COW, digging roots for widow
Jenkins and sitting up with Elder
Smith, when Judge Froth suddenly
died. OF course his last words We're;
al fall in the service OF my country,
and | want Abraham Rogers to be
chief boss at my funeral. | will and
bequeath my $751; to my wife, and
leave my thanks to Abraham"
Rodgers bossed the funeral. lie
borrowed all the chairs, GOT the sing
ers together, formed the funeral pro-
cession, and rode two miles to the
grave in n pouring rain to stand with
uncovered head. Next day he was i'll.
and yesterday, as told you, helped
bury him. When he died he hadn't u
dollar in the house. He had selected
cemetery lots for fifty people, but he
had none OF his own. He had helped
to put as many into caskets, but he
was buried in plain coffin, at the eX-
pense OF his friends. Very few OF his
friends turned out, as they were busy
with their work. He had formed
funeral professions hall mile long for
squires, elders, deacons and judges,
but there were only four vehicles in
his. The clergyman seemed to be in a
hurry, the grave-diGger was impatient
for US to be gone, and as we turned
away some one remarked:
"Oh, his wife will get along some
way-widows always do"